S. Maree et al., INTRACELLULAR PRODUCTION OF AFRICAN HORSESICKNESS VIRUS CORE-LIKE PARTICLES BY EXPRESSION OF THE 2 MAJOR CORE PROTEINS, VP3 AND VP7, IN INSECT CELLS, Journal of General Virology, 79, 1998, pp. 333-337
To gain more insight into the structure of the Af rican horsesickness
virus (AHSV) core particle, we have cloned, partially characterized an
d expressed the two major core proteins, VP3 and VP7, of AHSV-9. VP7 w
as found to be highly conserved amongst different serotypes. The VP3 a
nd VP7 genes were subsequently expressed in insect cells by means of r
ecombinant bacuIoviruses. VP7 was synthesized to very high levels and
aggregated into distinctive crystals. Go-expression of VP3 and VP7 res
ulted in the intracellular formation of core-like particles which stru
cturally resembled empty AHSV cores.